WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL RICHARD E GERSTEIN JUSTICE BUILDING BLOG. THIS BLOG IS DEDICATED TO JUSTICE BUILDING RUMOR, HUMOR, AND A DISCUSSION ABOUT AND BETWEEN THE JUDGES, LAWYERS AND THE DEDICATED SUPPORT STAFF, CLERKS, COURT REPORTERS, AND CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WHO LABOR IN THE WORLD OF MIAMI'S CRIMINAL JUSTICE. THIS BLOG HAS BEEN CALLED "THE DEFINITIVE BLOG ON MIAMI CRIMINAL LAW" BY THE NY TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE POPE, AND DONALD TRUMP WHO ALSO ONCE SAID IT WAS "REALLY GREAT". POST YOUR COMMENTS, OR SEND RUMPOLE A PRIVATE EMAIL AT HOWARDROARK21@GMAIL.COM

Saturday, February 18, 2006

The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.

OUR ERROR: In Teddy KGB the well written post was in support of Steve Levine not Steve Lefiman. We corrected the error.

PRESIDENT’S WEEKEND. On December 1, 2005 we wrote a thoughtful piece on the death of Rosa Parks, ending with the line "Some days just cry out for the reverent, not the irreverent." We received not one comment on the post.

Mention Bobby Reiff or Brian Tannebaum and the blog explodes.We surmise the people at C-span feel the same way about Fox News.Still, we’re going to give it another try.

MEDICAL EXAMINER MONKEY BUSINESS

For 20 minutes five men beat a fourteen year boy –Martin Lee Anderson- to death. Five prison guards employed by the State Of Florida executed Martin Lee Anderson at the Bay County’s Bay Boot Camp. Anderson was sentenced to boot camp for violating probation for a grand theft auto conviction that arose out of a joy ridding episode.

After the Guards beat Anderson into unconsciousness, State Officials moseyed Martin Anderson over to a Hospital in Escambia County, where he died.

What did the Escambia County ME’s office autopsy show?Not one dammed thing- as the autopsy was done by the Bay County ME. Something tells us that Bay County officials hustled the body of Anderson out of Escambia County a lot quicker than they drove the dying Anderson to the hospital in the first place.

Now, here’s where the culture of Karl Rove can been seen pervading all aspects of Government: The autopsy blames the victim- Martin Lee Anderson- all of 14 years old- for his death.

As the Miami “no credit” Herald reported, the autopsy found a “hemorrhage” behind Anderson’s kidney. The bleeding from the hemorrhage sent Anderson into shock and killed him.

But here’s where it gets fun: Anderson had Sickle Cell TRAIT not the disease Sickle Cell Anemia. Under certain conditions (like being beaten to death) a person with Sickle Cell Trait will produce sickle shaped blood cells which can be deadly. However, as the Herald quoted UM Pathologist Dr. Norenberg, “where does the blood come from? Because bleeding is not a problem [with people who have] sickle cell trait.”

Without ever addressing the issue of where the bleeding came from in the first place, the ME of Bay County called the death of a 14 year old boy- who was beaten by five Bay County Guards, NATURAL.

Maybe it is natural to be beaten to death in a Florida State Prison in Bay County, especially when you are an African American teenager serving time for grand theft auto. But for the rest of the civilized world (outside of Guantanamo Bay and it’s Washington DC prison wardens) being beaten to death in prison is a highly unnatural death, especially for a 14 year old boy.

How soon until Florida State Prisons make Amnesty International Watch List?

The reason no one commented on the Rosa Parks post is because most of the people reading this blog checked CJIS for her name and found nothing, and then figured she got tranferred to civil in the last judicial rotation

And where is our beloved Governor Bush during this whole fiasco. These guards are still employed, not even suspended pending theinvestigation. Imagine if the kidwho got beat to death was a whiteboy from Sarasota. The Governor would probably be proposing that the legislature make a specific law outlawing beatings on juvenile inmates. Instead, what do we get from this Govenor now when a little black boy is killed - silence. It's called InstitutionalRacism people. It's called subconscious Racism people.

This is the same Governor who was outraged that a husband would abide by his wife's wishes and put her to sleep (pro-life). Where is your pro-life agenda now Bush?

And regarding the ME, maybe they should have Senator Frist give asecond opinion. I presume after watching the videotape, Frist would conclude that the kid shouldhave lived through that beating and so he could not possibly havedied from homicide.

I'm not denying that racism is pervasive and institutional. But here, in this situtation, arguing that Martin Anderson is dead because of racism amounts to paranoid incitement. Representatives Barreiro and Gelber, among the first to see the tape, described the beating as "brutal," "disturbing" and "heinous." Neither are black.

Another question: Why did Martin Anderson's grandmother press charges in the first place instead of disciplining the kid herself? People don't realize that "getting the system involved to get help" results in bad unintended consequences more often than not.

IT HURTS EVERYONE. THE TRUTH IS, HOWEVER, THAT GRANDMOTHERS NOR ANYONE WITH A FAMILIAL POSITION SHOULD EVER, EVER ABDICATE THEIR ROLE AS A DISIPLINARIAN TO THE COURTS. THE COURT NEVER HAVE THE NECESSARY TOUCH TO DEAL WITH TROUBLED CHILDREN. THE KANGAROO DRUG COURT IS A PRIME EXAMPLE. ITS A JOKE.

I understood your comment. And I think it's racist paranoia to think Jeb Bush and the Government are dragging their heals in this case. George Bush and Hurricane Katrina? Absolutely. Martin Anderson? I don't take you seriously.

Every representative I've heard has condemned the "actions" at the boot camp. Your attempt to turn a dead child into a "black" martyr ignores reality, denigrates those who face true racism and minimizes the institutional violence boot camps rain on kids of regardless of color.

You talk like you know what true racism is. True institutional racism is fools like you who believe they know what racism is and believe they can see when and where racism rears its ugly head.

Wake up dude, if a white 14 yearold kid gets beat to death, the bottom line is there would be amuch different response from the Governor, from the legislature, from the media and from everyone. That's just plain ass life to us black folk. You can say it ain't so all you'd like, but that does not change it from being the truth.

That's why they call it institutional racism, because it is so ingrained in the culture and in your life that you don't even know it's there.

For example, many, many black husbands have killed there wives and babies, but they do not getnational attention like ScottPeterson did. In our subconscious, a white life is worth more than a black life. I'm not saying its anyone's fault, but that is thereality we live in. Why do you think statistically more people are put to death for killingwhites than for killing blacks or other minorities.

At no point have a denied institutional racism. I see it everywhere. But unlike you, I take a look at facts before breaking out the race card.

Here, I see black and white officers beating a young adolescent. I see broad mainstreem media coverage. I see universal outrage. Where is the racism? You've pointed to nothing. All you can do is drag up past racial injustices which have no direct bearing on the death of Martin Anderson or the public response.

You've taken the death of a child and made it "a black thing." I don't agree. I think it was a tragedy for all people.

Rump has stirred the emotions of several bloggers with his first shot about the Martin Lee Anderson death.

Here is the "racism" that some of you seem to be missing:

On May 30, 2005, a beautiful blonde haired blue eyed teenager disappeared from a foreign country. Only a few days later, the entire country - and the world - new about the disappearance. And for the next several months, every single evening on TV, we watched. We watched Larry King on CNN, and that fat mouthed ugly bitch former prosecutor (sorry but I just can't stand Nancy Grace) on CNN/Headline News, and Joe Scarborough on MSNBC's Scarborough Country and, worst of all, Greta Van Susteren - on Fox's On The Record, cover this story every single day - month after month after month. The only thing that finally stopped the coverage was Hurricane Katrina.

Now, we have a young black teenager, beaten to death in our own country, on video, by the police; the medical examiner from another county does the autopsy, and he makes ridiculous findings, and I have to ask the following question:

Where is Larry, where is Nancy, Where is Joe, and where is Greta - why - because, guess what fellow bloggers, Martin Lee Anderson did not die in the last few days. For those of you who did not realize it, Martin Lee Anderson died on January 6, 2006 - THAT IS 43 DAYS AGO - and we are now finally hearing about the story.

I look forward to the news shows this week to see if any of them even give minimal coverage to the story - or whether Greta will be back this week interviewing the mother or father Holloway on the new lawsuit that they filed last week against the wienersnautchen family. I guess it will take another Katrina to get that story off the air again.

Anon pointed out:"You've taken the death of a child and made it 'a black thing.' I don't agree. I think it was a tragedy for all people." He proclaims 'look at the facts,' and perhaps we'll understand that racism was not present there.

Lets talk about facts. As a PD, I've reached the sad realization that I'm often one of the first whites to try and help many black and hispanic clients.

While research has shown an increased chance of death with heavy exertion, it mostly occurs in extreme heat or at altitude where the air is thinner.

"Certainly at sea level, the risk would be very, very low unless it was very hot, very humid," Eckman said.

On the day Martin passed out, weather records show the high temperature was 68.

More facts: the state allowed Bay County, which will likely face a multimillion dollar lawsuit over this death, to whitewash, uh, I mean cover up, I mean, 'investigate' this death? This would not be tolerated if he was white, the state would have taken far more decisive action, more quickly. This report allows Bay County to make some PR moves to diffuse this story as soon as it starts to gain any traction, some month and a half after Martin died.

Delinquent children can be rambunctious, downright unruly. But I'm familiar with children's arms being broken, seen injuries on kids face and body, and heard horror stories of staff at detention facilities harassing children and even going after them. The staff are not trained or paid as they should. Same goes for police here who think that beating was the answer.

If it was, then these parents, who often grasp the idea of hitting their kids, would have no need to seek out the experts by calling the state. Sadly, many poor parents don't realize that when you call the state, you don't get the specialized help you need, you get bargain basement help.

The facts: it is racist to spend so much money on vindictive punishment, but not to care if it is effective. The successful Martin County Boot Camp, which is not so violent and involves parents, is closed, while others will be kept open? Where is the money for improving pre-K education to help poor minority families so their kids never get in trouble? Where is the money to expand the Marine Institutes? All these problems disproportionately affect minorities.

It has been clear from more than 10 years ago that JUVENILE BOOT CAMPS DON'T MAKE SENSE. The right approach would be for our legislators not simply to make the right sounds when black children are beaten to death, but to take proactive steps to prevent it.

I mean, we've heard about the Jessica Lungsford Act. The Jimmy Ryce Act. The Amber Alert system. But will anybody make noise about a Martin Lee Anderson Act to stop more children from being beaten to death? They should, if the facts are that this is not racist. After all, how many more children were beaten before little Martin died for joyriding in his grandmother's car? The true test will come when we see if changes are made. If Martin was white, there would probably be some sweeping, dramatic changes. I'm just hoping for some reasonable changes to protect the all future kids who'll go through these programs.

We removed a post with an offensive word about african americans. Its a mean and nasty word and has no place on this blog.

Here is the edited comment:

"WHY ARE SO MANY WHITE PEOPLE N____ LOVERS? "

WORD UP: We don't tolerate racist comments. Never. Find another blog. We all know the word. It offends the eyes and the soul. The connotations associated with that word have no place in our blog, especially when discussing the murder of an african american child.

he said it on the heels of your comments re rap. rumpole you need to purchase NWA's first LP, Public enemies takes a nation of millions to hold us back, before you step into your next jusy trial defending a black man. get with it.

Anonymous said... he said it on the heels of your comments re rap. rumpole you need to purchase NWA's first LP, Public enemies takes a nation of millions to hold us back, before you step into your next jusy trial defending a black man. get with it.

Rumpole says: Huh? We know we're old and don't know much, but we can read the Queen's English. According to your post, the name of the LP is " Public enemies takes a nation of millions to hold us back, before you step into your next jusy trial defending a black man."

Now, 1) What is the name of the LP.2) how will it help us defend someone?

You don't have to be a monkey to know how to eat a banana. Leave Rump alone. He can't represent blacks b/c he's not down with the rap game? Is roy Black down? Is Jack Denaro down? You guys are retards.